Stocks to watch for Tuesday, May 13, 2008:
 

• Clear Channel (CCU) is close to being bought by private equity firms Bain Capital Partners and Thomas H. Lee Partners for $18 billion, or $36 a share. This is down from the previously offered $19.4 billion, or $39.20 a share, which was denied by the six banks financing the deal.
• Lockheed Martin (LMT) will likely win a $1.8 billion contract to build next generation satellites for the US military, beating out rival Boeing (BA), reported The Wall Street Journal. The contract is for the first eight satellites of the planned constellation called Global Positioning System III. At least 16 additional satellites are planned, potentially worth billions of dollars more.
• MBIA (MBI) reported a 1Q loss of $2.41 billion, or $13.03 a share, down from a profit of $198.6 million, or $1.46 a share a year ago. Chief Executive Jay Brown said the company will send $900 million down to its main bond insurance subsidiary unit in the next 30 days.
• Sprint Nextel (S) reported a fiscal 4Q loss of $29.5 billion, reflecting $317 million in pretax merger and integration-related charges stemming from its acquisition of Clearwire (CLWR). The company's postpaid subscribership fell 1.1 million during the quarter, pushing total subscribership down 1.5% from a year earlier to 52.8 million.
• Wal-Mart (WMT) reported fiscal 1Q net income of $3.02 billion, or 76 cents a share, up 6.9% from $2.83 billion, or 68 cents a share a year ago. For the upcoming quarter however, the company gave a cautious outlook citing the potential for little, if any, same-store-sales growth, reported The Wall Street Journal. Net revenue climbed 10% to $94.1 billion.

Market Recap
 

• Asian trading closed with the Hang Seng +1.95%, Nikkei +1.53%, Sensex -0.64%, Taiwan +1.81% and Shanghai -1.84%.
• A glance towards Europe finds the CAC -0.28%, DAX -0.21%, FTSE -0.85%, ATX +1.17%, Swiss Mkt. +0.90% and Stockholm -0.32%.
• In commodities, crude oil is down -0.51 to 123.72 and gold is also lower -7.7 to 877.2 this morning.